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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

I published in 2015 an Editorial in Bioethics where I took the stance that we have no good ethical reasons to accommodate conscientious objectors in medicine in liberal democracies. That Editorial led to a bit of a splash among religious activists who liberally make use of conscientious objection accommodation afforded to them in order to avoid providing professional services to patients. There has also been a more considered reply by Christopher Cowley that was published in Bioethics. Julian Savulescu, the Editor of the Journal of medical ethics was another target of Cowley's reply. Julian and I have finally got around to writing a reply to Cowley. It's forthcoming in Bioethics (as an Editor of the journal, I was, of course, not involved in the decision-making process on that manuscript). Look out for it, it's gone into production. The title of our paper: Doctors have no right to refuse medical assistance in dying, abortion or contraception.

The American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs produced a new opinion on conscientious objection. The Journal of Clinical Ethics organised a symposium with replies to that document. My paper titled Conscientious objection accommodation in medicine: Private ideological convictions must not trump professional obligations is scheduled for publication in that journal this fall. Check it out.

Last but not least, Ricardo Smalling and I had a lengthier review piece in the Journal of medical ethics on conscientious objection. Check it out here. You won't be surprised by its title, I suspect: Why medical professionals have no moral claim to conscientious objection accommodation in liberal democracies. The journal apparently received a couple of responses and so we're currently busy drafting a response to those.

The Journal of medical ethics as well as the Cambridge Quarterly of Health Care Ethics are currently in the process of putting out special issues dedicated to the conscientious objection problem. Look out for that forthcoming content.

Why is there this sudden flurry of publications and special journal issues on this subject matter? I think it has mostly to do with the fact that conscientious objectors make reliable service delivery ever more difficult with their accommodation demands. Court challenges are under way in Canada where Christian doctors demand to be accommodated in the country's coming medical aid in dying regime. They even refuse to transfer assistance-seeking eligible patients to colleagues who would provide the medical services that these patients would be entitled to receive. It cannot surprise, seeing such unprofessional conduct, that bioethicists the world all over have become interested in this issue again.